There are concerns about the spread of Covid-19 in the Delta variant, which could lead to a decrease in the chances of creating a US-UK travel corridor by this summer.Transporters such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow would be severely hurt if they failed to resume transatlantic travel by July 31st as was previously planned.Discussions over a US-UK travel corridor were started before the G7 Summit in Cornwall. They suggested last week that it was becoming increasingly unlikely that a conclusion would be reached before the end of next year.According to the Financial Times talks are expected to continue into August and September according to the Financial Times. This is due to a combination of the spike in the UK delta variant, the complexity in the US political process and uncertainty about the status of AstraZeneca's vaccine.In the beginning, it was hoped that a deal would be reached to reopen travel between Britain and the USA by July 4.Unnamed officials from the UK were briefed about the talks and told the newspaper that this was not likely to happen soon. Although we thought that July would be the earliest time we could get something in place, it now looks more like September.According to another source, the UK is pushing harder for an agreement with the US than the UK. Another anonymous person who was familiar with the talks claimed that the Biden administration was not in a hurry and there are very few chances of anything happening before August.Since the outbreak of the pandemic 15 month ago, Americans are not allowed to travel from the UK into the US unless they have a green card or the immediate family member of a US citizen. Or they can apply for a special exemption.Quarantine is required for all persons arriving from the USA to the UK.After the US president accepted to create a taskforce consisting of UK and US officials to discuss ways to restart travel, it was hoped that there would be some relaxation in restrictions.According to the FT, a diplomat from the UK said that AstraZenica was proving to be a problem. It is possible that millions of Brits will not be eligible for travel if the US does not recognize it.A second problem is the influence of different parts of the US government on Covid-relate travel rules. These include the Department of Transportation and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.According to the White House, meetings regarding a US-UK travel corridor are ongoing and active.A spokesperson for the UK government stated that the group was created to assist in relaunching travel between the US and UK as quickly as possible.They said: Discussions are ongoing between the working group to ensure that the UK and the US closely share thoughts and expertise on international travel policy moving forward.
